The family of a young British backpacker who died after drinking poisonous methanol labelled as gin have demanded the arrest of the shopkeeper who sold her the deadly concoction.

Cheznye Emmons, 23, was unable to see after drinking the deadly spirit and rushed to hospital while on holidays with boyfriend Joe Cook, 21, in Indonesia.

Her father Brenton has urged the NHS to warn British travellers about the dangers of drinking alcohol while on holidays after he switched off her life support, five days after Miss Emmons drank the poisoned drink.

Trip of a lifetime: Cheznye Emmons, 23, had been travelling across south-east Asia with her boyfriend Joe Cook, 21, when they bought the bottles labelled 'gin' from a local shop at a popular tourist spot

Looked like the real thing: Boyfriend Joe Cook (pictured right with Miss Emmons), who also drunk the alcohol, said the bottles of altered dry gin looked real

The 47-year-old builder said: ‘I would not want anyone to go through what we have been through.

‘If we can save the life of just one
traveller by warning them of the dangers of poisoned alcohol then
something good will have come out of this terrible tragedy.

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According to The Sun he said: ‘If we can save one more family from going through this hell then it would have been worth it.’

Boyfriend Mr Cook said yesterday that the 250ml bottles of altered dry gin they bought at a popular tourist spot had ‘Mansion House’ labels and looked legitimate.

Family: Miss Emmons drunk the deadly spirit while at an orangutan sanctuary in Indonesia but five days later her parents were told by doctors there was nothing they could do and her life support was switched off

Miss Emmons, from Great Wakering,
Essex, drunk the deadly spirit while at an orangutan sanctuary in
south-east Asia. When she woke the next day she was unable to see.

Mr Cook, who also drunk the spirit and survived, said: ‘When we woke up in the morning Cheznye couldn’t see.'

He took her to an eye hospital but
was told to take her to hospital immediately. There doctors put her in an
induced coma as they battled to save her from the effects of methanol
poisoning – blindness, kidney damage and seizures.

Mr Cook, from Leigh-on-Sea, Essex, broke the news to her parents, who flew out
to be at her bedside at the Columbia Asia Hospital in Medan.

But Mr and Mrs Emmons were told there
was nothing doctors could do and their daughter’s life-support was
switched off five days after the poisoning.

The methanol had been poured into a
bottle labelled as gin and sold in a local shop in the popular tourist
site of Bukit Lawang in northern Sumatra.

Miss Emmons’ brother Michael, 33,
said: ‘From what we understand, the shop would have poured the gin out
of the original bottle and then replaced it with methanol,’ he said. ‘It
was in the original bottle with the gin label on it.

The shopkeeper is yet to be arrested.

Devastated: Miss Emmons' father Brenton has urged the NHS to warn British travellers about the dangers of drinking alcohol while on holidays

Difficult: On April 25, Miss Emmons' parents Pamela and Brenton made the heart-breaking decision to turn off her life support after flying out to be with her

Miss Emmons’ family are now urging
health secretary Jeremy Hunt to circulate warning leaflets to British
tourists heading to the region.

Father Mr Emmons said: ‘I saw the bottle and honestly couldn’t tell if the gin was real or not.’

High taxes have pushed up the price
of recognised brands of wine, beer and spirits in Indonesia, encouraging
a long-standing practice of stretching drinks with the locally made
brew known as arak.

Some suppliers are going further, adulterating spirits with methanol, which is colourless.

Earlier this year, an Australian
teenager died after drinking vodka that had been mixed with methanol on
the Indonesian island of Lombok.

And in 2009, 25 people died in Bali after drinking a batch of arak that was tainted with the spirit.

Methanol, which is also called methyl
alcohol, is used in numerous industrial applications, including the
production of formaldehyde, acetic acid and as a fuel component.

Death: After falling illl Miss Emmons trekked through the jungle to get help. She was referred to a hospital in Medan, Sumatra, where she was placed in an induced coma and later died

Deadly: Within days the beauty therapist, from Great Wakering, Essex, complained of not being able to see and was rushed to the nearest eye clinic